I traveled back to my hometown this past week.  I wanted to visit a few people and take care of a few things that I needed to take care of.  A few of those things got the best of me.

There was a large toy closet in the living room of the home where my kids grew up. Inside the closet was a big space at the bottom for larger items and three shelves that were lined with adhesive Mickey Mouse shelf liner. The middle and upper shelves were used for stuff that I didn’t want the kids to play with unless I gave it to them. That was stuff like paint, playdough, and magic markers; all the messy stuff. The highest shelf on the right was for my toys.  That area of the toy closest was called the State Store.  You might know it as the Good Wine and Spirit store.  Either way, you know what I mean and I know that you’re judging me right now. Before you get your panties in too much of a bunch, know that my kids are grown and I know they never touched anything in my State Store.  When they were younger, there wasn’t any way for them to reach it.  When they were older, they knew better.

Anyway, I was in the toy closet the other day and it wasn’t for the purpose of shopping at the State Store.  I was cleaning and that’s when a few things got the best of me. For the first time in a very long time I noticed the artwork on the front of the lower shelves.  Some of it was done in ink and others in magic marker-the magic marker I moved to a higher shelf. The artwork took me back to when the kids were just tall enough to reach that shelf. I can picture them standing there in their Batman pajamas with markers and pens in hand.  Sure, I probably yelled at them for doing it but now, it’s a reminder that kids once played in this closet.  Oh, that sounds bad so let me redo that.  It’s a reminder that kids once played in the closet while the closet doors were wide open.

As I crawled around on the floor in the closet I came across a ping-pong ball.  On the surface, there wasn’t anything special about that old round white ball. However, seeing it reminded me of the Christmas Eve that my husband and I hauled a new ping-pong table down the basement stairs so the kids could play a game with a standard white ball the next morning and for the next year or so.  As the kids got older, that ping-pong ball was used for other games; games that Mr. Ping-Pong didn’t intend for it to be used for. I know, you’re saying that I wasn’t a good role model because I had a State Store in their toy closest and that’s why they misused ping-pong balls. And you might be right except that the last thing I found in the toy closet would prove you wrong.

In a folder in a box on the shelf lined with Mickey Mouse adhesive shelf liner and magic marker and ink on the front was a piece of paper with a poem written on it.  One of my kids wrote the poem about himself as part of a school assignment. I don’t know what grade he was in at the time but this is what he wrote.

Funny, athletic, and smart

Loves sports, family, and friends

Feels loved, happy, and tall

Gives laughter, happiness, and smiles

Now, you tell me what mother who yelled at her kids for drawing on the wood with pen and marker and who had a State Store in the upper right shelf of the toy closest was a bad role model?

Thanks for reading by fabulously funny stories about every day life. Remember to share the laughter.

Eliza G.